Taylor Bigler

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is angry at Bar Refaeli for starring in the Foreign Ministry’s latest hasbara (public relations) campaign because she never served her two mandatory years in the army.

In 2007, Refaeli married a family friend to circumvent the compulsory draft so that she could go on posing in lingerie and swimsuits rather than wearing fatigues and carrying around heavy guns in the hot sun for two years.

The IDF said in a statement to Channel 2 News via The Huffington Post, “The choice of a representative who did not serve in the military as an official presenter on behalf of Israel, conveys the message that we ignore and forgive evasion of enlistment, and encourages identification, among youths of both sexes, with the success of those who did not enlist.”

“The IDF has been operating, in the last few years, in a variety of ways, to strengthen the value of IDF service, and to fight the phenomenon of enlistment evasion, in order to preserve the societal value that sees the IDF as the people’s army.”

Refaeli also caused controversy in her native country for asking to be listed as a “foreign resident” in order to pay less taxes.

But enough about that. Who really cares that she is a draft and tax dodger when she looks like this?